Swiss Troubled By 0.9% Jobless Rate

December 25, 1985|By Thomas W. Netter, The New York Times

GENEVA — There is a story told here about the time, 10 years ago, when only three people were out of work in all of Switzerland. All three were sought out by reporters for interviews, but just one would consent and only on condition that his name not be used.

As aprocryphal as the story may be, it says much about the status of being unemployed in a country that has enjoyed virtually full employment for decades.

This ``culture of work`` was illustrated in newspaper headlines and shocked commentaries last year when unemployment hit the crisis level of 1.1 percent for the first time since World War II. And though that level has subsided, nudging down to 0.9 percent this year, the Swiss still puzzle over what they consider a high rate of unemployment.

``The French work to live,`` joked a Frenchwoman, trying to explain why the Swiss take their working lives so seriously, adding, ``But the Swiss live to work.``

The Swiss attitude toward unemployment, and the reasons it has consistently remained below 1 percent, is the subject of a study by three young economists at the University of Geneva for the Employment Research Center of the University of Buckingham in England, a country where unemployment is about 11 percent.

The study says the Swiss unemployment rate is due in large part to the country`s small size, its trade-oriented economy, a decentralized political and trade union system and the pressures of foreign trade, which absorbs 40 percent of its gross national product.

``There are many reasons however which just cannot be quantified,`` says one of the authors, Alain Schoenenberger, a senior assistant at the Department of Political Economy. ``My feeling is that here in Switzerland, work means something.``